Nov 5, 2014

True Story Of "Inbox"- Virtual Tour,Review And Hacks

First thing first, thank you +Inbox by Gmail for letting me be a part of beta stage program. Feels proud.

What is Inbox and beta state?Inbox is a new emailing app with more inside features to make life easier. It is made by the same people as Gmail but both are different apps(as of now).You can download and use Inbox only if you have an "Invitation" from them. (You can simply ask for an invite by emailing them at inbox@google.com. You will get an immediate response that your request is registered and they will send you an invite soon)

How long was Gmail in beta stage?Gmail was in beta stage until 2009 from the date of its launch i.e. 4+ years

Good news is - If you get an invitation from Google and you download the app then within next two days you will be granted 3 "Golden tickets" to invite 3 of your friends. When did I get my invitation ? Criteria?I asked for an invite exactly 4hrs from the launch of Inbox but had no luck until today (4th Nov 2014) i.e. it took 13 daysBUT there are people who requested an invite in afternoon and got it next day by evening even after one week of its launch. So it is yet not clear that on what basis they sent out the VERY first invites and those sets of invites which followed it.AND there were people who had two invites and didn't know what to do with it (although everyone was requesting and looking forward for a single access)ALSO people who had only 15 followers and didn't have any idea about social media had an invite. The app info says that 1 Million people already downloaded. So there is no particular criteria but they are doing their best to get as many invites as possible.

Let me take you on a virtual tour of Inbox-
• Open the email and click on the link.

• Open the app after downloading and Sign in with
the same email I'd which got an invitation.

• Four introduction slides show up as follows

After you click "Done". You will see a new video email from inbox.

First impression and terms in use....
Bundles- It is a term like "sections".
For ex: Promos is one bundle, Social is another bundle meaning another section.

All the emails are categorized on monthly basis and bundle- vise

Sweep icon - It will mark all emails as READ.

Pin icon- When you select any email, you will get an option to pin and that's where you will find all your "Check later kinda " emails.
Search icon is obviously to search :p

Does it support multiple accounts?Yes, it automatically gets you logged in if you have logged in on your device.It features the profile picture of multiple accounts alongside.To select you can either click on it or click on email I'd or more options.(Strike out for privacy reasons)Extra features- Flight reservations, Remainder, Forums, Finance etc ate just some bundles and it also provides you an option to create new bundle ( Section).

What's more?Each section is provided with individual settings. So if you do not wish to receive notifications for "Promo" section then you cab simply turn it off.Low priority bundle and Done bundle is also provided.Most of all, you can disable any section anytime.

Did we miss out on how to compose an email? ;) Same as the old one, click on Red plus icon and it shows up top three "Most contacted" persons email id along with their G+ profile picture. Attach pictures,files, videos using attachment pin. Click send and tada :)

Final conclusion is that, its good for people with lot of incoming mails but there is a lot of possibility that you may miss out an important email which might be stuffed inside promo or social bundle, although its the main feature that important emails would appear first and the rest follows but a normal pre-loaded emailing app on Android is sufficient and simple for light users. A good app for corporate people.There are talks that Inbox might be integrated into Gmail but no official statement on it yet.Hacks -What if you don't have an invite yet but restless and eager to use Inbox?1) Ask your friend for one of the golden ticket but if unfortunately your friend doesn't have any more invites then2) If your friend has faith in you then ask him for his email id and password and download the app on your device but be loyal to him and add your OWN account in multiple accounts section but if you remove his account then you wont be able to use Inbox anymore until you have your own invite.Good job by +Google :) and +Gmail